Only in Black

Has anyone had a bad experience with Factory Reproduction wheels? I purchased a "NEW" set of C6 Z06 style black chrome wheels with tires and tire sensors, which I ended up having to sent back right away.

The wheels they sent me looked used. deep nicks and inclusion on the inner wheel lips (some on the outer) and the finish on one of the wheel barrel was so bad that it looked totally different the the other three. Total garbage.

When I called the rep. who sold me the wheels (David), he tried to play off that the wheels were beautiful and there was nothing wrong with them. I was so pissed off that I requested to speak to another rep. (Mike Jr.). I took pictures of the wheels and emailed them to him (I will post up the pictures so you guys can see the garbage they sent me).

I got RMA's and sent the wheels back and I had also emailed one of the owners of Factory Reproductions (Doug) to let him know the wheels that I had recieved (never got a response back). I was expecting to get a replacement set and instead was told by "Mike Jr" that they would refund my money because they felt they would not make me happy???? went on to say that he saw nothing wrong with the wheels and that he would have put the wheels on his car. What a bunch of bolony. I will post pictures of these wheels and you guys tell me what you think.

This picture shows the wheel with the bad barrel finish compared to the wheel of a decent finish (picture proceeding)











heavy nicks and inclusions all around on wheel rims (looks worse in person than the photos), wheels looked chewed up around the inner rims.






















This next Picture are the wheels after I went through the trouble of having to purchase stretch wrap, bubble wrap, and 2 hours of my time to package. What a hassle.

$$$frumnuttin'

Doesn't surprise me at all, and sorry it happened to you. The aftermarket wheel industry is in a downward spiral right now...companies are dropping like flies. If the design you ordered was a GM counterfeit I suggest you get the GM version...they are not made in china like the imitators.

Mr.Bill

I got my after market wheels from OEPerformance and 3 years later they still look new. So not all after market wheels are crap.

Bill Vett

I've had mine for over 4 years and they look as good today as the day I got them. They ballanced with no problem. I think that GM has a company in China making their wheels now.

tigers123

House of Wheels in Florida. Great people to do business with. Very satisfied with purchase.

Toms02C5

Mine are OEM and are great!

Burgie

Went to after market, big problems on balance. Had a rhythmic vibration that we couldn't road force out. Turned out to be the wheels. Bought a set of OEM 02s and rides like glass with no vibrations. Don't recall the brand but they were Z06 style and chrome. Beautiful to look at but a real B@#$% to drive and ride in.
Stick with OEMs as much as possible or pay big bucks from a reputable company.

Humy

I've had a very bad experience with them, I will never order wheels from a non brick-and-mortar store ever again. If anything goes wrong, there is lots of waiting, attitude, incompetence, unresponsiveness, and paying for dismounting/mounting. Forum vendor did pay for the shipping, after feeling my displeasure. Don't sell your old rims if you buy rims online.

csexton

Sorry to here that. No bad experiences with my C6 Z06 repros.

Chuck

Optimus_C5

Sorry to hear of your experience, but not all after market wheels are crap. I bought a set from JW Motoring and they are still perfect after a year. Balanced with less weight than my OEM polished thinspokes.

Only in Black

Well Humy you are right. It's a gamble purchasing online unless the vendor provides you pictures of the actual product you buy, but that's highly unlikely. Tigers123 did say he was happy with his purchase from House of Wheels and I found out they are located in Deerfield Beach Florida, which is not far from where I live, so I think I will check them out.

DevilDog II

Aren't GM wheels made in China?

$$$frumnuttin'

Ok, now that I see the pics here's my educated guess. Those look like manufacturing defects that got by socalled quality control...like they even have such a department. I spent 33 years as a Materials Engineer at Ford and in that time 10 years covering wheels. I've toured dozens of wheel plants and written specifications for aluminum and steel wheels. I know all the bad stuff, and you got some of it. OEM GM wheels (same suppliers as Ford) would never leave the factory in that condition...they would be melted down and recast, or drilled out so no one could mount them on a vehicle, then sold as scrap....hope this helps you in your claim.

Bill Vett

Bob is a great guy to deal with. I ordered mine on a Tuesday afternoon and had them mounted and balanced on Friday!! As I said, they are still in excellent shape and have had no issues with them. Bill

jrose7004

All of those pics were the back side of the wheels. What did the front look like?

corvettebob1

In fact it's been some time since GM even Made wheels. The ones that were on my C4 were made in Japan.
My factory Mags on my C5 were made in Italy.
BTW, the wheels shown are not defective, that's damage from idiot that mounted the tires!

DevilDog II

Here's a question for you. As I said in a previous post, I believe GM wheels are made in China. Is there a difference in quality for wheels made for the auto makers compared to reproduction wheels? Do you know if the chroming process for the auto makers is different compared to aftermarket wheels made in China? I would think they'd all be made by the same companies.

flynbyu2

I think they did you a huge favor by refunding your money instead of giving you a different set of junky wheels.

Count your blessings.

$$$frumnuttin'

Ok, here's how it all works for the OEMs. First the engineers at the OEM and wheel supplier get together to offer a new design to the Styling department. There is a bit of give and take because what Styling wants isn't always the best design from a functional standpoint. Next, prototypes are cast (or forged) and testing begins on determining whether the design meets Engineering specs and manufacturability. A few of the tests include curb impact (lip strength), radial strength when running in a tight circle for days, proving ground testing for salt/corrosion resistance, rough road durability, etc; lab testing for tensile strength, compression resistance, life testing on a bench test to simulate severe duty (police cars for example), fatigue testing, etc If the wheels are plated, then the chrome plating process has to be approved as well...this was a big part of my job. Plating thickness, 1000 hour salt spray testing, humidity testing, uniformity of plating across the face, etc are all done to insure the process is capable of reproducing the same wheel every time....this is where Quality Control comes in. All domestic wheel sources must meet these stringent wheel requirements. Cast wheels are 100% checked for porosity before they go into plating or clearcoating...it is impossible for a bad wheel to get out of the plant. I could go on, but I think you get the story for OEM. Geography of the wheel supplier to the OEM assembly plant is very important due to high cost of shipping a relatively heavy component...about a $1/wheel when I left...probably double that now. So, if a Chinese source can compete they would have to figure out a way to be equal or better in cost to a domestic supplier such as Alcoa, Superior, etc. Clearly shipping a turdload of corrodible product in the hull of a salt water vessel 1000s of miles across the world is a risky task. To compete they have to cut corners somewhere, or the OEM will stick with the local producers as a simple better way of doing business (easier to get to, and easier to receive product). These aftermarket guys obviously cannot afford all the engineering tests, the proving ground tests alone would be millions, so they enter the market and hope like hell nothing hits the fan before they make their profits. I've always been shocked that the OEM designs are not copyrighted to prevent a loss of life or other catastrophe, but for some reason in this case counterfeits are allowed...amazing.

Shirl

Sounds familiar. I had problems with them too. The lip of one wheel was lopsided, there were several imperfections in the other wheels and a couple of other issues where the inside of the barrels looked aweful . Their response was "what do you expect for this price?" I couldn't believe it. I sent all of the wheels back and asked for a credit. When they did NOT apply the credit, I called my credit card company and filed a dispute.

All of these repos are made in China. I ended up getting them from OE. They were in MUCH better condition with better service.